Tasuki's Swimming Lessons
by Keimei and Suiren-chan
Summary: It's a REALLY hot day in Konan. What's a group of Suzaku Seishi to do??? Teach Tasuki to swim of course!!! Rated PG-13 for Tasuki's language. *part 1/? as of 4/19*
1. Default Chapter

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Tasuki's Swimming Lesson 

By: Suiren-chan and Zenithfairy

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AN: Z: Ohayo minna!! And welcome to the first joint fic between me and Suiren-chan. I'm warning you now, it's not going to be pretty. Lots of randomness caused by too much school. This is our first attempt at a fic passed around between periods, so let us know what you think. The characters are a little OOC, but the heat will do that to anyone….

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Disclaimer: 

Suiren: La-de-da…oh, gomen, I almost forgot about this part.

Zenith: Hah. Wishful thinking.

Suiren: OK. We don't own Fushigi Yuugi no da. Good enough?

Zenith: Can I own Tasuki? 

Suiren: Sure –

Zenith: Really? Wai wai! *dances*

Suiren: – as long as I get Chichiri.

Zenith: Deal! I hope Watase-sama doesn't see this…. *grins* I own Tasu-chan, I own Tasu-chan!! *dances*

Suiren: Yeah, really all the characters belong to her. There you go, a double disclaimer no da! 

Zenith: *sighs and looks disappointed* But we have the right to dream right?

Suiren: (dreamily) Yeah… 

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Part 1: It's Waaaaaay Too Hot in Konan

It was a beautiful day in Konan. The weather was becoming even warmer lately, as the seasons changed from spring to summer. However, today went beyond "beautiful." It was downright hot! Mind you, Hotohori's palace in Ancient China, wasn't air-conditioned so the Suzaku Sichiseishi were pretty much screwed.

"Too…hot…" sighed Tasuki as he sat in a cool room in the palace fanning himself with his tessen.

"I thought you liked heat, pyromaniac," came a voice coming towards him. It was only Tamahome, so Tasuki glared at him and continued fanning himself. "Hey, Tasuki?" asked Tamahome. "What's that phrase you like to yell to anyone that's giving you a hard time?" Tasuki looked at him blankly, his brain having melted with the heat long ago. "You know," he continued, "the one you use to fry people with?" Tamahome finished with a smirk.

"Oh! You mean 'Lekka Shinen' – Tasuki was then thoroughly toasted due to his holding the tessen to his head. It's not a good idea to tease the Tasuki when he's already overheated – 

"OBAKE CHAN!!! Omeo korosu!! That was the cruelest thing you've ever done, you f*ckin' b******!!!" Tamahome ran for his life, laughing the whole time. "Get yer ass back here damn it! LEKKA SHINEN!!!!!" 

Well, it's needless to say that Tasuki was mad. He chased him out the palace door and onto the grounds. He got into the sun, though, and lost track of his target because of the horrible glare. 'Where'd he go, where'd he go?' he muttered to himself. Finally, after giving up to the heat of outside, the burned bandit plopped down defeatedly on the ground and sobbed. "That was so mean," he whined. He noticed Nuriko and Hotohori sitting peacefully on a cool rock, under a shady tree. As far as he could tell, Miaka, Mitsukake, Chiriko, and Chichiri weren't anywhere to be seen, but then, who could see anything with the damned sun. 

"Wonder where they are…" Tasuki muttered as he lay down in the grass weakly. 

"Oomph!"

"Nani?" Tasuki cried. He had fallen on top of Chichiri, who had been lying in the crinkled grass behind him, kasa over his head protectively. 

"Gomen 'Chiri! Were ya sleepin'?"

"No…no…da…" he groaned. "Was…dying…" came the muffled reply. Chichiri had already taken off the kesa and his shoes, and rolled up his sleeves as his as they would go, but the sun still took its toll. His mask was constantly slipping off his face, and he had to push it back up like a pair of glasses. That is, until he got sick of it and just tore that off too not feeling the need to hide in front of his friends. 

"I know, it's really hot out. I don't think I've ever seen weather so bad around here. But don't worry, you can't die from it." Suddenly Chichiri sucked in a gulp of air. 

"Can't…breathe…well…no…da…" Chichiri sat up and wheezed. "You know I…don't do well…in this weather…no d –" He gasped before he could even finish his catchphrase. "I…asked Chiriko…to find…water," he mentioned in a raspy voice different from his usual high-pitched, hyper one. As if on cue, Chiriko ran and bounced his way up to Chichiri and Tasuki, with more energy than the two of them could muster together. 'It must be youth,' the monk thought. 

"I found a lake!" Chiriko yelled. "And I've told everyone else so far too! He was right; Tasuki noticed that Nuriko and Hotohori were no longer sitting under the tree. "Come on! Let's go!" The boy glanced at Tasuki. "You look a little over-heated Tasuki-san," he noted. "Maybe this will help," and without further adieu, the young Seishi dumped the entire bucket of water he had been carrying on the bandit, managing to soak both him and the monk thoroughly. Chichiri seemed to relax a little as the cold water cooled him off. Tasuki, on the other hand, was not amused. The momentary satisfaction of the icy water quickly gave way to anger and the bandit turned on the child-warrior.

"What the hell did you do that fer?" he sputtered, water dripping from his hair and into his eyes. 

"Gomen Tasuki-san, I know you don't like water, but you looked like you were about to die from the heat. The water really cools you down," Chiriko told him wisely. He motioned to his own wet hair and clothing. "Which is why there's a whole lake waiting for us!" Chiriko exclaimed. The bandit didn't look placated. He opened his mouth to say something but began to cry again instead.

Meanwhile, Chichiri jumped up from his sitting position and hugged the little Seishi. "Arigatou, arigatou, arigatou gozaimasu no da no da no da!" cried the blue-haired, and now wet, monk. He grabbed the stunned Tasuki by the hand and Chiriko led them to the lake he found.

The neatly trimmed bushes opened up to a decent sized lake. Giggles and laughter was heard all around it. Mitsukake was floating as Nuriko did a cannonball, sinking him. Chichiri's eye glistened; (having left his mask behind on the ground) it wasn't often that they got a vacation like this one. It felt like torture at first, but now-- Chiriko arguing with Tasuki to go swimming interrupted his thought. 

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"I'm not! I'll just watch ya, Chiriko!" Tasuki said as he got free of his grip. 

"Fine," Chiriko gave in as he dove into a deeper part of the water gracefully. 

"Amazing huh no da?" Chichiri said softly, "A thirteen-year-old that can swim with ease na no da..." Chichiri commented to Tasuki. The bandit glared and the monk continued. "I _know_ you're _afraid_ of water no da. I'm just rubbing it in!" he chuckled gleefully. Tasuki stared out at the lake for a few minutes, and watched Chiriko swim like said he would. Chiriko, along with most everyone else had found cooler clothes around the palace. Most of them just had on a pair of shorts they found, or pants that were rolled up, except Miaka of course.

"I don't think, actually…I'm just gonna sit this one out." Tasuki concluded with a wave of his hand.

"Oh, no you don't know da!" Chichiri warned from behind him. He had left the kesa behind, and by now had stripped off most of his clothes, leaving only his brown-green pants that were rolled up to the knee. [S: @. @] "You're joining us," he said over the din, still grinning ear to ear. Chichiri had the bandit by both hands and was leading him to the lake with ease until Tasuki snapped out of his overheated stupor. 

"Uh-uh! I don't think so!!" Tasuki screamed as he pulled away, but Chichiri caught him around the waist and pushed him from behind back towards the water. Chiriko was watching and laughing at the sight.

"Chichiri!" Tasuki cried desperately, "C'mon! I don't wanna! Lemme go!!" he fought, now understanding that Chichiri wasn't kidding. 

"Daaaa! Tasuki, cooperate na no da! I'm hot, and _I_ want to swim no da!" His blue hair was drenched as buckets of sweat dripped from his brow.

"No one's stopping you! Go ahead!" and with that, Tasuki picked up the frail man and threw him into the water very…ungracefully.

"Daaaaaa!" Chichiri yelled until he hit the blue with a crash. But the intelligent Chichiri didn't come back to the surface right away. He stayed under, enjoying the cold water flowing over him.

Seconds went by. A minute. "Chichiri? Chi-chiri?" Tasuki questioned, as he wondered where the monk could've gone. It would just be his luck today if he ended up injuring him or something, so the redhead became worried. He slowly bent over the deeper part the lake and shakily looked down where he threw him. [S: Is he really that stupid? Z: My Tasu-chan is not stupid! *looks up* okay, so maybe he can be sometimes. But it's the heat…yeah…that's it…the heat…]

"Gotcha!" Chichiri quickly jumped out of the lake enough to catch Tasuki's legs, making him unstable. Chiriko got out of the water and decided to join in on the fun, by pushing Tasuki in on top of Chichiri! This caused an even bigger splash than Nuriko's cannonball. 

When they came up, Tasuki coughed and sputtered and clung to Chichiri, the only thing between him and drowning. He had taken off the trench coat and boots before, but otherwise, poor Tasu-chan was fully clothed. 

"Good thing you worried about me sooner or later. I was running out of air no da!" Chichiri said as he treaded water, trying to support him and Tasuki, but still smiled triumphantly. Then again, Chichiri rarely doesn't smile, so I guess that's not a news flash. Tasuki opened his mouth, probably to curse at them, but it came out as tears and he cried yet again. Third time today I think. Normally he's a strong, determined, independent guy, but what is there to say? It just wasn't his day.

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Z: Well what'd you think?

S: Not too bad if I do say so myself. So let us know what you think. Reviews are encouraged.

Z: All ya gotta do is click on the little bar down there. *points to bottom of screen* It says submit review on it. Come on…you can do it…good. Thanks in advance.

S: Look for the next part soon. It's already started. We're aiming to have it out by next week.

Z: Yup! Ja ne na no da!

S: Hey!!!! That's MY line!!!!!! 


	2. The Fun Begins

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Author's Note: We would like to take this time to apologize to everyone about the delay. Between things going on in school, Keimei loosing the only copy of the story (K: I didn't mean to!!!!) and many other things, it took a little longer than expected to get this part out. So gomen nasai. Thank you for all your positive support. ^_^

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Disclaimer: See Part 1. Don't feel like writing it out again.

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Tasuki's Swimming Lesson 

By: Keimei and Suiren-chan

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Part 2 - The Fun Begins

Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at the wailing bandit. He was still clinging to Chichiri as if the man were the only thing keeping him alive. The monk felt a sweatdrop roll down the side of his head. 

"Umm…Tasuki-kun no da? Could you let go of me please no da?" he asked. The younger man continued to bawl and cling to his friend. 

"Tasuki-kun?" the monk asked again. He gently shook the bandit whose face was buried in his chest. (K: *drools* S: Not like that! *whack* K: *pouts*) Tasuki only tightened his grip. Chichiri blushed at their position. Blushing was something he wasn't used to people seeing because of the ever-present mask. The only problem was that it wasn't present at the moment. The rest of the Seishi were still staring at Tasuki, and, as a result, him too. 

"Tasuki-kun, please?" Chichiri asked again softly. His only response was sniffling and a barely audible 'I hate water' coming from Tasuki. He began to try to pry Tasuki's fingers from his back, but it was met with no success. Instead Tasuki's fingernails burrowed into his skin (K: *drools more*) and Chichiri blushed again. Chichiri (S: the _kawaii_ little blue-haired monk... K: Shhh! *whacks* S: Gomen.) sighed. He started to wade quite ungainly due to the excess weight on his front, to the bank of the lake. With much difficulty, the monk managed to pry the man off him and in doing so, placed him on the bank. The bandit quickly picked himself up and scooted back from the edge of the water, fear evident in his eyes. He had stopped crying, but everyone continued to stare at him.

"Ne, Tasuki-kun, what's wrong no da?" Chichiri asked kindly. Tasuki mumbled something that no one could understand. "Tasuki-kun, I couldn't hear you no da, could you repeat yourself no da?

"I can't swim," the fire-haired youth replied very quietly. Due to Chichiri's blank expression he assumed he still couldn't hear him. "All right, I can't f*ckin' swim!!" he yelled. That was it. Tamahome, who had been trying not to laugh through the entire fiasco, burst into laughter. Miaka tried to shush him, but had to resort to dunking him. The others just stared. (S: as if they didn't know) Chiriko, however, smiled and said, "That's okay Tasuki-san, we'll teach you how to swim, ne Chichiri?" 

Chichiri was slightly taken aback, but quickly pulled himself together. "H-Hai, Chiriko-kun," he agreed. "We'll teach Tasuki how to swim no da."

"Okay, Tasuki no da. A little further…keep going…one more step…nope, too small no da…another…NO! Tasuki no daaa!" shouted an over-frustrated Chichiri. Just trying to get Tasuki close to the water again was difficult. He was _so _close – until the bandit ran the opposite direction without so much as getting a toe wet. 

"Hona, Chiriko na no da!" Chichiri called over to the boy frolicking in the water, "Onegai, help me out no da!"

"But you're doing so well, Chichiri-sama. You don't need me," he smirked as he dove underwater again. Chichiri groaned as he approached Tasuki for what felt like the millionth time. How'd he get stuck being teacher when everyone else was happily floating around? 

"Tasuki, I'm about ready to give up no da. I'll give you one more chance." Chichiri warned. 

"I wanna swim 'cuz the sun's fryin' the hell outa me, but I know I'll just drown if I try!" Tasuki complained.

"Not if I'm here no da," he told him. "Come on, one more time, if not, I'll leave you alone no da."

"But I wanna get cooled off!"

"Then let's go na no da!" the monk finished. Tasuki followed him down to the water's edge and watched as a tuckered Chichiri plopped down in the shallow waves, and motioned for the redhead to do the same. Tasuki shook his head violently.

"You aren't going to float away or anything no da. Just sit down." Tasuki reluctantly did as he was told. "There we go, now we're progressing na no da. Good job." Tasuki looked pretty uncomfortable sitting amidst the blue. 

"Okay, now walk out to where I am no da. Look, I can sit down and it comes up to my chin. You can stand up and you'll only be up to your knees no da. You can't drown na no da."

"Yes I could," Tasuki spat back after a while of being silent.

"It's not possible no da." 

"Grrr…" Tasuki gurgled in a low voice in the back of his throat. The heat was making him even more irritable. However, he tried to do his best for Chichiri without biting his head off, so he slowly ventured his way deeper into the water.

"Right no da. Now sit." 

"Don't order me around," Tasuki said through gritting his teeth. He was losing his cool, and Chichiri wished he could just dunk him underwater to douse his temper and keep it from rising, but he knew he couldn't _make_ Tasuki do anything he didn't want to. His mind wandered to thanking Suzaku that Tasuki had left the tessen on the palace grounds when they went off with Chiriko. 'I hope no one steals it no da' he thought to himself, 'I left my kesa and mask outside too no da.' (S: Yes, of course he thinks in "no da's"! K: laughs) However, to the monk's relief, Tasuki did end up sitting next to him eventually. 

"Ya happy?" the bandit muttered.

"Yup! Very, na no da! Now I can really teach you how to swim!" Tasuki's irritated scowl turned into a twisted look of terror (S: How can anyone be this scared of water? K: *blank face* I dunno. Water is fun. S: I hope he never sees an ocean – for his sake.) while Chichiri had a look of pure happiness on his scarred face. 

"The water's really shallow no da, just try to float on your back, and that's what you do if you feel like you're in trouble and you can't touch the bottom no da," Chichiri explained.

"Ummm…like this?" Tasuki asked as he pushed himself up off the sandy bottom on his hands. 

"Hai, now let your arms float too, no da."

"NANI? How? You're tryin' ta drown me!!" 

"No I'm not! I'll show you no da!" The monk floated for a few moments while Tasuki noticed that he was calm enough that he appeared to be sleeping. 

"Now, you try it no da. It really relaxes you." Tasuki tried to look as calm as his friend did, but it just wasn't in his nature to stay still. 'This is crazy, maybe I should give up since I must be wasting 'Chiri's time,' the bandit thought to himself. He continued to put himself down until he felt Chichiri holding him up to the surface with his hands on his back. Chichiri couldn't help thinking that it was a good thing Tasuki's eyes were closed so he wouldn't see him blushing.

"Haha! You did it Tasuki no da!" Chichiri exclaimed when Tasuki stayed afloat by himself. All of a sudden, a beach ball came out of nowhere and landed on Tasuki's head, instantly sinking him.

"What the hell was that?!" the bandit coughed and sputtered, "Who threw that?!" 

"That would be me," Tamahome noted, trying to look innocent as he came over to claim the beach ball. (K: Beach ball? Where'd they get that? S: Beats me, must have a Konan Rent-a-Blow-Up-Thing store. K: Yeah, sure.) He was grinning evilly just the same. "I just didn't see you there, fang boy," Tamahome commented. 

"Nani?! Fang-boy again, huh?! OBAKE-CHAN, you're gonna get it!

"Oh yeah? Come and get me!" Tamahome dared. Chichiri crossed his arms over his chest and smirked when he saw Tamahome's plan. He was easily getting Tasuki to go farther and deeper into the lake with no effort at all. Too bad Chichiri couldn't start that to begin with, but then, his relationship with Tasuki wasn't like his with Tamahome. The two brawling boys could always find a reason to pick on each other. After a few minutes of chasing the other seishi without a tessen, Tasuki make an important observational discovery.

"Oi! I can't…*struggle*…touch the bottom…*stands on tiptoe*…anymore!" Tasuki yelled. Tamahome swam a few feet away from him holding up two fingers up to form a victory sign. His grin took up his entire face. Chichiri cluelessly waded to the both of them. (K: Perfect timing…) 

"Ready to have your first lesson Tasu – " the monk-mage was cut off as Tasuki tried to use him as a float…again. "DAAA! NO! (S: Hey, it's backwards!) Off Tasuki-chan! No daa!!" Chichiri pushed Tasuki off him and he fell back in the water with a splash. "Ok," Chichiri sighed, "Now float like you did before no da," he told the seventeen-year-old, trying to make himself not help the frantic bandit. Eventually, Tasuki proved he had the potential to learn something as he floated peacefully. It even surprised Tamahome.

"Awwww…Chichiri, you took away my fun," Tamahome complained with a slight smile. 

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K: Well, that's it for now. I refuse to make anymore promises about when the next part is coming out. Right now, this is gonna have to move over to make room for our English project, which, if it turns out right, you will see sometime within the next week or so. (NOT PROMISING ANYTHING!!!!!!) All I can tell you is that it involves two teenage girls, some seishi, and idioms. *shivers* 

S: Now go and review and tell us we're not wasting our precious time on this. Go. Thanks!!!

K&S: Ja ne na no da!! *waves*

^_^


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